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[Nowicki]

Does anyone know if you could use corn stalks for fuel. I'm thinking of building something to heat a greenhouse.


Larry

[Scott7m]

It burns hot but you would have to find a way to press them into bales or something to even begin to heat a green house.  It would take a truck load of it to amount to much loose.

[Nowicki]

I have access to 500 acres and was thinking of just bundling them?

[tulenutn2o]

They can be baled and then burned. tighter, the better.
Anything that burns puts off heat.

[Scott7m]

Yea I think they would have to more than bundled, your firebox would have to be the size of a truck bed if they weren't.  If you could rig up like a tobacco press or something to make tight bales u could.

[Nowicki]

Any special type of furnace...I was thinking maybe a modified 55 gal drum to experiment with at first.

[Scott7m]

Any special type of furnace...I was thinking maybe a modified 55 gal drum to experiment with at first.

I've seen people try to do this before.  With corn stalks, hay, all kinds of stuff.     

The only way you could do it with such a small firebox would be to stand beside it and fill it every 10 minutes.  Corn stalks produce a lot of heat but don't last long.  Thats what I'm implying by saying you need a way to PRESS a lot of corn stalks into a small bundle.  Even then, your firebox would have to be rather impressive in size.

[jackel440]

They bale the fields around here sometimes.Rake them just like a hay field.Now a regular square baler would make to large of a bale to fit through most furnae load doors.Now I have seen a few square balers that make an half size square bale.Seem to be rare and hard to find,but They are out there.
I am not talking about those little tiny balers that you see at the fair making the cute decorative bales either.
I want to say it was a Massey baler ,but don't qoute me on that.I guess an internet search might be in order.

[Nowicki]

I saw one on the net that had a 7' opening and was 30' long but that is out of the question for my needs. Guess I'll think about the wood furnace for now. Not thinking boiler but forced air. We got several acres of wood available just not sure of the laws on outdoor wood furnaces here in Maryland. The greenhouses will probably be 20' by 100'. I had one a couple years ago we kept as a cold frame but it collapsed under a big snow. I want to add some heat and try again.

[Scott7m]

I saw one on the net that had a 7' opening and was 30' long but that is out of the question for my needs. Guess I'll think about the wood furnace for now. Not thinking boiler but forced air. We got several acres of wood available just not sure of the laws on outdoor wood furnaces here in Maryland. The greenhouses will probably be 20' by 100'. I had one a couple years ago we kept as a cold frame but it collapsed under a big snow. I want to add some heat and try again.

you'll never survive with forced air trying to heat that much space.  water creates a medium to store heat in, with forced air or an air furnace some would say, you have to have a roaring fire going at all times even when the building your heating might not be calling for heat.  so therefore you waste a lot of wood due to not having a medium to store heat.  i've had family with air furnaces and they had to fill them every 5-6 hours vs  every 16-24 with an OWB. 

if your worried about pressurized boilers, most of these arent pressurized and are very safe

[Nowicki]

Where do I get the info on unpressurized boilers??

[lawrencep]

theres a guy out here that heats two huge greenhouses with a owb he burns cow crap corn stalks shreded tires and who know what else but the owb is the size of a small house.

[Scott7m]

Where do I get the info on unpressurized boilers??

Right here buddy...........    everyone here has unpressurized boilers.     you may find 1 or 2 guys that have pressurized boilers that they have built personally.   however we all have non-pressurized boilers

i sell natures comfort brand

[Scott7m]

theres a guy out here that heats two huge greenhouses with a owb he burns cow crap corn stalks shreded tires and who know what else but the owb is the size of a small house.

Yup.....  when you start heating green houses you need a biggin

[willieG]

a pound of cornstalks would give you a little more btu than a pund of wood (that is corn stalks dried down to 10 percent moisture) this info is found on the net with a quick search.  you could bale them inot the old fashioned small square bales (3 feet by about 14 or 16 inches square)_ i seem to remember straw being around 20 pounds a bale? if corn stalks were the same, what you think? about 2 or ten bales a day  to heat an average home?? (just guessing) also you will need a good blower as i would think they would almost smother themselves out (like a leaf fire in the fall)

i did see a vidio on you tube of a guy out west that used a rail road car (one half water storage and the other half fire box) said he had a big blower on it and the whole end of the car opened up and he slid 2 or 3 huge round bales in per day. but i think them western provinces have a lot of straw

just some ransom thoughts i put up for "food for  thought"